“I’m So Excited!” which opened the Los Angeles Film Festival on Thursday, is the JetBlue of Pedro Almodovar movies. Frills such as psychological depth and narrative ingenuity never made it on board the Spanish director’s cumulus cloud of a comedy; the thing just insists on floating as high up in the air as the damaged plane that is its main setting.

When a landing gear problem forces a Mexico-bound flight to circle aimlessly over the Iberian Peninsula, the crew dutifully prevents panic by drugging the entire coach cabin with muscle relaxants. That leaves First Class, which three gay flight attendants attempt to do by serving mescaline-laced Valencia cocktails and performing a lip-synched production number to the film’s title song.

A variety of erotic encounters — none of them up to Almodovar’s usual inventive standards — ensue, while the pilots prove more interested in exploring their sexuality than in safely landing the aircraft.

Almodovar has often balanced superficial giddiness with jet-black melodrama, but with this one he seems to have challenged himself to keep things all surface giggles, all the time. It’s not the skin he lives in — Pedro thrives on complex damage — and definitely not “The Skin I Live In,” his last disturbing masterpiece. But for a light and naughty festival opener, “I’m So Excited!” got the job done. The audience saw something kind of sophisticated but didn’t experience any real turbulence. Or excitement.

Follow @BSCritic on Twitter for more Los Angeles Film Festival updates. Also catch his LAFF Pick of the Day every morning and tweet him your picks with hashtag #laff.

Bob Strauss has been covering film at the L.A. Daily News since 1989. He wouldn't say the movies have gotten worse in that time, but they do keep getting harder to love. Fortunately, he still loves them.